West Pier’s double delight

West Pier FC Saturday and Sunday league teams celebrate their success, at their 'home' and sponsor, Scholars bar. Picture by Andrew Higgins 122063d 19/05/12

Published:09:18Tuesday 22 May 2012

WEST Pier are celebrating after both their Saturday and Sunday League teams collected division one championships.

Andy Spivey’s Saturday side remained unbeaten throughout the league campaign to finish just ahead of Newlands, while Paddy Parke and Jamie Towse’s side picked up the Sunday League division one crown after wrestling the silverware away from long-time holders Trafalgar.

West Pier FC Saturday and Sunday league teams celebrate their success, at their 'home' and sponsor, Scholars bar. Picture by Andrew Higgins 122063b 19/05/12

The club’s reserve team also managed to seal promotion from division three after finishing in the runners-up slot behind Turks Head, to complete a superb season for the club as a whole.

The only negative for the club was their reserve side’s relegation and failure to garner a point during their division two campaign, but Parke is adamant that the club is moving forward and there are plenty of positives to be taken.

Parke said: “It has been a fantastic season for everyone associated with the club.

“Both the Saturday and Sunday leagues were really close too.

“To have Trafalgar and Newlands close behind us on a Sunday and Newlands and Edgehill on a Saturday shows how strong the leagues are.

“We only lost one game all season and that was to Traf, and the reserves had a superb season. Mark Tucker has done a great job with them to get them promoted and they’ve got some good young players there.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for the players and for the club. I’m over the moon that the lads got what they deserved.

“I have to thank Jamie Towse, who has run the team jointly with me this season and has been a superb help.

“Danny Smith and John Bingham at Scholars have been great with us as well so thanks to them too.

“While my reserve side struggled a bit on Saturdays, we didn’t have much luck and had key, experienced players injured throughout the season.

“No excuses though, we’ll come back stronger next season.”

Pier’s Saturday team’s first XI boss Spivey was also delighted with the club’s achievement, he added: “We were so disappointed to miss out on goal difference last season to Edgehill, that I think winning the division one title this time round makes up for that - It’s a good reward for two season’s hard work.

“There were some big, big games this season and we managed to pick up points from them.

“The main one that stands out for me is the Edgehill game. We fell 2-0 behind but managed to come back and beat them 3-2, that was a real turning point for me.

“A couple of other games that spring to mind were the Newlands games.

“We were really struggling for a side in the first one but managed to win 2-0 and then we were losing to them 1-0 in a horrible, scrappy game and Danny Cooper equalised late on to get us a draw.

“So it’s the results in the big games, as well as the fact the lads have been loyal all season, that we have managed to have such a good year.”

Spivey was also quick to point out some impressive statistics in Pier’s recent history.

He added: “Pier were promoted in 1991 under John Binnie and finished runners-up seven times until we won the title for the first time in 2009.

“In the last five years we’ve only been beaten seven times, only one of those away from home.

“We’ve had a good run and we’ll hope to carry it into next season too.”